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'Tis The Season To Be jolly...

...I was wondering if Bangalore Team-BHPians had any recommendations for plum cakes, etc. I know there is an active home-baking scene here in Bangalore with a few who are legendary within foodie circles, but usually by the time I hear about it I'm well into the New Year. Actually in all these years, I haven't had a decent plum cake here, so I really need your advise.

My idea of a good plum cake is one that borders on bitter and is moist and loaded with fruits. What I have usually ended up with is something crumbly, sweet and full of dough.

Also a long time back on this thread, someone had recommended a lady who makes kababs and biriyani from her home in Cantonment, I vaguely remember her being of Iranian heritage. I seem to have lost her phone number, can anyone help me?

If you are referring to Mrs. Huma (Biryani aunty for many of us), she's in Frazer town and her number is 98440 74798. At least this is the last known number with me, and I ordered her stuff about 6 months or so back. Hope the number is still the same. Try and let us know - I personally find it really good, especially the meat: rice ratio that she uses (which is why its a trifle more expensive than the other locally available biryani).

As to plum cakes, you can try the slightly higher end cake stores. Glens bakehouse, or Smoor. These should be good, because their other stuff really rocks.

One of my close friend's wife does baking. Not a professional set up, and typically takes ad hoc orders from known circles. One of her specialities is plum cakes and during this Christmas time, they plan and take orders on a slightly larger scale. The cakes are delicious and we order every year. Unfortunately they just closed their orders for this year as they need to wind up delivery by 24th. Couple of days earlier and could have connected you with them. Based on what you expect, I think you would have liked it.

A professional set up that I have heard good feedback on is 'Butter Side Up' . Have not tried their plum cakes, but had ordered a birthday cake from them last year. Was very good. As per their facebook page they have the . 'best plumcakes in town'. Maybe worth a try. A little on the expensive side though.

https://www.facebook.com/buttersideupcafe/

Received delivery of the Xmas Plum cakes from Navya bakers based in Kochi through www.delightfoods.com It is basically what you have described and then some. They also have plum cake from Variar bakery based in Bangalore itself.

Delightfoods is a wonderful option esp at festival time. I would also recommend Lavonne, a bakery school in Domlur, (same guys who run Glens). They were stocked up over the weekend.

Or there is always good old Koshys, though their quality is variable. I still go early on Christmas eve for their marzipan.

It seems I may have missed the boat again, but with your help this holiday season could still be memorable.

From Delight Foods, I am hard-pressed to choose between All Saints Matured Plum Cake and Navya Bakers Plum Fiesta Cake.

Local options mentioned so far are:

• Glen's Bakehouse (arindambasu13)
• Smoor (arindambasu13)
• Butter Side Up (Rajeevraj)
• Lavonne (Juggy)

As I am diabetic, I can unfortunately only buy ONE Plum Cake weighing around 1 kg to resist further temptation and soaring blood sugar levels this holiday season. Anyone who swears by their Plum Cake, please tell me which one option should I choose?

I believe she is the one. Thanks a ton, @arindambasu13!

Thank you, @Rajeevraj, could you please PM me her contact information so I can try next year?

Thanks @khoj, I tried the Plum Cake from Navya earlier, but didn't find it as good as their signature Date & Carrot Cake which I really liked. Only on going through the Delight Foods website did I realize that Navya has more expensive varieties of Plum Cake specifically for the holiday season.

Thank you, @Juggy!

I just ordered 2.5 kg of their "rich fruit cake" (aka plum cake) for my bangalore based team, and paid using NEFT. Came to 2555 including Rs. 180 delivery charges to Whitefield. Now got to see if it lives up to this reputation.

Thanks for the referral.

A little bit background about me. Ours is a vegetarian family and my wife does not know how to cook non-vegetarian dishes. But I am used to eating chicken and fish occasionally when I am with teammates out for lunch/dinner.

Two factors have made me consider going for regular non-vegetarian fare.

1.) I have been diagnosed with Vit B12 deficiency. Taking injections did not help as I got severe rashes on the body as a side effect and I had to discontinue the injections resulting in B12 levels again falling below borderline now. Doctors "recommended" that I can turn to non-vegan food as vegetarians have B12 deficiency.

2.) On a recent visit to U.S, I tried dishes prepared with Salmon but my colleague told me that the Salmon available in U.S. is Atlantic variety not to be found in India.

Which restaurants serve Salmon in Bangalore? People knowledgeable about sea foods - can you provide pointers to the availability of Salmon, varieties, recipes etc?

Why do you want Salmon? Any sea fish is going to be a rich source of B12 and there are plenty available in India.

You can also expand your horizons to eating liver (kaleji) and kidney (gurda) which should be available in any butcher shop or go to shivaji nagar and enjoy!

If you want fish - take the ones that smell "strong" and "oily" - eg: mackerel (bangda in kannada, ayila in tamil / malayalam) for high levels of B12. Don't bother about white and neutral tasting fish like basa, not much of the vitamin in it and doesn't taste good anyway.

Don't bother about recipes if your family and especially your wife are vegetarian - these dishes (liver, kidney, oily fish etc) smell quite "strong" especially when cooking so they may get upset. Go to a good non vegetarian hotel and enjoy yourself. (edit) It may take a while for you to bring yourself to eat these dishes, if all you have eaten are chicken and white meat + neutral tasting fishes, before. These are "hardcore non vegetarian".

One of the famous restaurant and package foods giant, MTR is organizing a karnataka food festival on Jan 21 and 22. Festival will have cuisines from 6 different regions and would have 100+ dishes. Venue and price details are as below.

Venue : St John's Auditorium, Koramangala, Bangalore
Date and Timings : Sat Jan 21 and Sun Jan 22 from 11 AM to 11 PM.
Price : Rs 700 per person.
Book your tickets here.

P.S : I am in no way associated with the event/organizers. Saw it in FB and posted the same here.

Any recommendations for "gajar ka halwa"? :D

Folks, need your help in selecting a place which will deliver food to home. I am hosting a small get together of my close friends at my home and would need to order food. Group is a mix of veg/non-veg. Since I am a veggie not very sure of which would be a good restaurant to order non-veg food from. Primarily looking for a Thai restaurant. I stay in south bangalore close to Lalbagh. Any suggestions for the restaurant closer to my place(delivery to home should be a must) and menu would be welcome.

While I'm unable to recommend any specific restaurant, I'd suggest you look look at websites like swiggy and food panda as they deliver from several restaurants and choosing something closer to Jayanagar shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks NPV for the reply. Yes I would definitely try with swiggy (food panda does not deliver to my place for some strange reason). But I would be lost for the items to pick from. Also does not show up much suggestions for Thai food though lot of chinese food options are shown.

Hi Hserus,
I think you are very knowledgeable about fishes. Usually I get Rohi fish (because that is the one I recognise) , does that have good vitamins ? I have no clue on other types of fishes so I am very gullible customer for the seller who can sell anything in the name of other.lol:
One question that haunts me is selecting the right fish and most importantly how to check if the fish is fresh or refrigerated one that was stored overnight.